We pulled into Muncho Lake campground going north on the Alaska highway. We got the first spot campsight and backed in. It was glorious there. We launched the boat and set up camp as usual. Me and Earl decided that there was some fishing that needed to be done so we hopped in the boat and headed south on the lake. I was amazed at the depth of the lake. Some places 50 feet off shore the lake was over 100 feet deep and as clear as vodka. We trolled up to the river inlet and picked up a few cut throat trout as we went. We fished the inlet and caught more and we caught grayling and some dollies and more trout. In southern terms, we had enough for a ''mess''...... (any southerner knows how many fish it takes to make a ''mess'' of fish for supper.)
As we headed back to the coach we went along the shore where the road is right along side of the lake. Pedaling along like they owned the world was two guys on bicycles. They had all their ''stuff'' hanging all over the bikes and were seemingly happy as ''two clams''.. We said howdy and where the heck are you guys going riding bicycles.
It turned out that they had left Chicago and were going to Fairbanks riding bicycles.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?...... Nope, they were riding to raise money for some charity in Chicago... They were going to camp in the same campground as me and Earl were camping in. We asked them to supper if they liked. They said they would ''think about it''.......... We made it on to the campsight and unloaded and cleaned the fish. The girls started cooking hush puppies and fries and making slaw and me and Earl went down to the campsight of the guys on bikes and extended the invite to supper again. One of the guys was asleep and the guy we talked to seemed hesitant about coming up to supper. He said it had been a couple days since their last shower because they were rough camping along the way. We said no problem, come on up. The girls are fixing a ''nanner puddin'' for desert. This got them ….. They were surviving on freeze dried stuff and granola bars and it had been days since they had some real food.
I told them we would eat about six .
When you cook fish it is like making love to a widow woman. You cant do just a little. The girls had a platter of fish cooked up along with fries, hushpuppies, and cold slaw. They had cooked some of the fish from a previous fishing expedition also. We did the buffet thing when the guys came up and everyone pigged out. The bike guys stuffed themselves and that was good because warmed over fish and left over love just aint fit for humans. I reminded them about the ''nanner puddin'' and they managed a couple of servings. We went outside and they told us of their adventures along the Alaska highway. They were actually camping on the side of the road when necessary. They would stay in a motel about every six or seven days so they could ''scrub up''. They replenished their supplies from food drops they had sent to various towns along the Alaska highway.
The next morning we invited them over for eggs, grits, country ham, biscuits, gravy, butter and jam and coffee of course....Again they pigged out and thanked us profusely for the food and the companion ship... We bid them good bye and said we would catch them in a few days... One guy told me that he had gained five pounds since he had met us..
Some time later we caught them again along the road. We stopped and they stopped and we had a beer and some talk. They were really nice guys and they are a page in my memory................
Seajay the sailor man
God bless our troops and bring them home soon and safe
God bless our vets …..ALL GAVE SOME … SOME GAVE ALL ..
ps. Earl and his lady had their own camper
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